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BF30A Won't start after timing belt replacement

S

Samav

Contributing Member
After following all the procedures in the SELOC manual to replace the timing belt on my BF30A Honda outboard, the motor does not start. I am quite new to boating and working on outboards, so I am not sure what I could have done wrong. This outboard is a manual start model. I was able to get the motor to start for a very short time after pulling the rope for a good 5 minutes. It only let out a few put-put-puts before dying. Before I replaced the timing belt, the motor would start in 3 pulls every time. Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
It's likely you have the engine incorrectly timed. It happens to the best of us. This is usually because you didn't have the #1 (or top) cylinder at TDC (Top Dead Center) of the COMPRESSION stroke when you aligned the timing marks.

You must stop trying to run the engine until you get this sorted out.
I'm not 100% sure but I believe the Honda 30 is an interference engine. Meaning that if you run the engine when it's out of time, you run the risk of bending valves. Actually you could bend valves on an interference engine just by forcing it past "hard spots". I'm telling you this so that you can review what's been done. Did you encounter "undue" tightness as you tried to crank the engine?

Anyway, like I said, this happens and often no damage is done. So don't be too concerned unless you forced the engine past a "hard spot."
 
Yeah, the 30 is an interference engine. There was no tightness when I cranked the engine; it felt the same as normal. I am wondering if I could have messed up the timing when I did the timing belt tensioning procedure which told me to rotate the flywheel so the cam pulley was 3 gear teeth before TDC on the #1 cylinder. Maybe I did it wrong or it was not necessary at all? Also, is it possible I could have flooded the engine when trying to start it? I definitely squeezed the priming bulb a little too​ much.
 
Yes, you could have flooded it.....however....

When you are all finished with the belt installation, the timing marks should all align with the top dead center marks.

Be very careful using a Seloc manual. Many times their info is not accurate. Here are the instructions from the Honda Manual. You do this to adjust the tensioner after you have the timing marks lined up properly when putting on the belt.

"Turn the crankshaft counterclockwise by 5 gear teeth or more,and then turn it clockwise until the cam pulley timing mark is at3 gear teeth before the cylinder head "T©" mark (3 gear teethbefore the top dead center of the No. 1 cylinder).Note:The correct tension for the timing belt is automatically adjustedby the tensioner. Do not apply additional force to the timingbelt tensioner."

As I said before, when you rotate the flywheel to the timing mark, the cam timing mark should also align....right on the mark.

Mike
 
The SELOC manual said that exact procedure, which I followed. BUT, I did not know there was a timing mark on the flywheel. I thought you just rotate the flywheel until the cam pulley timing mark hits the mark on the powerhead. Could I have rotated either the cam pulley or the flywheel by itself on accident? I am confused though, should the timing mark on the cam pulley line up with the timing mark on the powerhead AFTER the timing belt tensioning, or should it line up before, and after the tensioning it should be 3 gear teeth before TDC?
 
I think we found your problem...

There is a mark on the flywheel pulley and also one on the flywheel. If you did not take the flywheel off to change the belt, you did not see the mark on the flywheel pulley. However, there is a vertical line with a T next to it on the outside curve of the flywheel itself. That should align with the mark on the flywheel cover or recoil starter mounting boss right next to the tensioner. That will be top dead center

When those marks are aligned, the T mark on the cam pulley should also align with the T mark on top of the powerhead. If both sets of marks are in alignment, the timing is off. .

Once you get those aligned, you adjust the tensioner as explained above....moving the flywheel back 5 teeth...then forward two teeth back to the 3rd tooth...etc.

When the tensioner is tightened, that is when you rotate everything again and make sure the the flywheel timing marks align and the cam pulley timing marks align.

After you do that, then hopefully, the valves were not bent.

To check if the valves are bent, you could check compression. If the compression is all over the map or really bad, a leak down test would tell you for sure. If compression is good, then you may have dodged the bullet.

If so, then it is time to buy a lottery ticket.

Mike
 
Thanks for the info. I will try doing what you have said here tomorrow. I'll also run a compression test and hopefully all goes well. Will let you know tomorrow.
 
Thanks for the help guys! Managed to get the timing marks and tension right and the motor is running smoothly.
 
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